In most known massage applications which are provided with a handle, the handle is rigidly connected to the massage appliance. These massage appliances require an especially careful handling, in order to insure that the massage container stays in touch at all times and over its entire contact surface with the body of the patent. A suitable use of these massage appliances during self-treatment by the patient is therefore fraught with difficulties.
A massage appliance wherein the massage container is swingably connected to the handle is also known (FR-A-638 309). In this case only a very limited adjustment of the contact surface of the massage container to the body of the patient is possible, since the massage container performs motions only about a single axis.
There are also known massage appliances wherein the massage container is designed as a hollow body rotatably mounted on the handle, which during the massage rolls off the patient's body (DE-C-523 208 and DE-C-427 822). However, the rotatability of the massage container does not allow an adjustment of the contact surface of the massage appliance to the body of the patient.